CLOSED NEWS/RUMORS Thread

My thoughts, exactly. I had high hopes for Rushing, and still do. But I honestly don't see a long-term role for him on this team. Until he's been given enough time to prove otherwise, his AA/AAA stats say he should be a starting catcher for some MLB team. Even if we could make an argument to keep him as an eventual replacement for Freeman, do we really want a 5'11" everyday first baseman? I just wish he had raked in the bigs last year as his trade value would be optimized. Could still happen after this year, but like BDK says, carrying 3 catchers makes no sense.

Would the Dodgers DFA Rortvedt now to see if he clears waivers so they can send him to OKC? Probably not, so it'll be interesting to see their next move with Rushing.


Chuckie Robinson pulled up a chair with a big bucket of popcorn.

 

That last post got me thinking... is there a position in baseball that has a lower successful transition rate from the minors to majors than catcher?

Will Smith is a rarity. Consider other highly-touted LAD catching prospects over the past ten years:

Connor Wong - at least he stuck, but only a .680 OPS over a 1000 ABs.
Keibert Ruiz - also stuck, .665 OPS in close to 2000 ABs.
Diego Cartaya - was Dodgers #1 prospect. Still hasn't debuted. Six years in the minors and hasn't hit an OPS over .800 since high-A in '22. Now he's SF's problem.
Hunter Feduccia - hit well at OKC, but .506 career OPS in limited ABs in the bigs.

And we know about Rushing so far.

Are there more? I feel like I'm missing one.

Just shows how valuable Smith is. Good move to lock him up.

 

Reading up a little on today's transactions.

Banda is also out of options, meaning the Dodgers would have had to keep him on the active roster, and I'm not sure they wanted to commit to that. I don't think he did himself any favors in the WS -- 6 ER in 3 innings. Unlike other offseasons, they have a decent stable of lefty relief options - Scott, Vesia, Dryer, Wrobo, Kopp... I think Scott moving out of the closer role probably factored heavily into Banda's release.

The expectation is that there will be a lot of interest in Banda, which makes it fairly likely that the Dodgers will be able to swing a trade for him, possibly for a low-level prospect. Can the front office pull another magic trick?

This by no means guarantees Rortvedt a spot as they probably were looking to DFA Banda prior to that. My guess is that both he and Rushing will be observed closely during ST, and either Rushing will be sent down or Rort will be DFA'd in hopes that nobody claims him.

 

@mlbtraderumors
Dodgers Hire Michael Hermosillo, David Dahl As Minor League Coaches https://mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/

 

fwiw…

@CodifyBaseball
2026 salaries:
Chris Davis, $3.5 million
Shohei Ohtani, $2 million

 

They don't and I'd be okay if they didn't. But Roberts loves having that defensive versatility, and every year Kike seems to morph into a different player in the postseason. Still, he's going to be on the wrong side of 35 and last year his OBP was terrible... Not good for a team to have a black hole 1 or 2 spots before Shohei, and potentially Tucker.

 

Like I said, I'm good with a decision to not bring him back. Miggy's OBP was 63 points higher last year - that's significant. But Kike plays all of Rojas' positions plus first and all three OFs. And Dodgers don't win the WS last year without both of them, and they reward their postseason heroes. That's why they're bringing Miguel back for one more at age 37 and I'd expect the same for Enrique.

 

middle of the night drunken prediction…

rushing and freeland will be key components of the eventual deal for skubal

2nd mini prediction…
not before opening day but before the deadline

 

@JonHeyman · 23m
Chris Paddack to Marlins

 

lol idiots

@TalkinBaseball_ · 8m
White Sox spelled Munetaka Murakami’s name wrong on his locker.